Tuesday: Duck report

UPDATE—Dead duck: I am told that there is a dead duck—one of Katie’s brood—in the shrubbery next to the pond. Its status as a member of the senior brood was verified by one of our fellow duck farmers, but I can’t bear to go look at it. I wonder why it died. Apparently the body isn’t damaged, which would indicate a predator attack, but who knows.  Perhaps a dog killed it. Or maybe it was ill:  one of the two ducks hiding in the water lilies yesterday.

This is sad because it’s our first loss, and, unexpectedly, in an older duckling. To me it’s heartbreaking.

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As I reported earlier, all the ducklings are alive and well, though two of Katie’s brood, being big and flight-adept, appear to have departed. More on that below.

First, here are two videos taken by the secret duck farmer (SDF). The first, from July 5, shows Katie’s brood attacking a quarter of a watermelon that someone (not us) left by the pond. Apparently all three broods of ducklings nibbled on it, but Katie’s brood, being the biggest, drove the others away:

On July 6, there was a mass flight of Katie’s brood. The ducks were aerodynamically sound but didn’t fly far. The SDF reports:

I’m attaching a short video of Katie’s brood.  They are doing this new thing where they all take off together and fly to another part of the pond.  I didn’t quite capture it from the beginning because I didn’t know they were going to do it.  I’ve seen it twice the first time was a total surprise.

Here are some photos I took yesterday when I returned to the pond and saw Daphne’s brood for the first time.

Daphne and her babies, who like to hang out huddled together on the cement under the tree:

One of Daphne’s ducklings, off by itself (they tend to scatter):

And the lovely Daphne herself:

Anna’s brood on the duck island. They look big, but don’t be deceived: they are still only half feathered. You can’t count them here, but there are still eight.

Katie’s brood resting in the leaves underneath the trees. There were eight on the bank (not all shown here), and the other two were sleeping in the lily pads. Katie is in the foreground, ever watchful:

It’s not easy to see mallard hens or young mallards resting on the ground. It wasn’t till I became a duck farmer that I realized how cryptic female ducks and young ducklings really are.  Here are a few of Katie’s brood:

Finally, this morning our SDF took photos of all three broods, verifying that Katie now has eight rather than ten, so two must have flown away yesterday. (They could be hiding in the lily pads, but I doubt it.)

I’m not sure whether they’ll return, but it is time for them to go, at least in terms of their development. But it’s early in terms of the season! Last year they left, as I recall, in September.

Katie’s Brood of Eight (Katie has molted and lost her flight feathers; can you spot her?). Where did the other two go?

Anna’s brood: still eight, for they aren’t yet able to fly. Anna is watching over them at extreme left:

And Daphne’s brood: still nine and still small, but growing rapidly. In the water they tend to wander about, but are always close together on land with Daphne right next to them, which of course is adaptive given the possibility of predators.